Astor markhor
subspecies of mammal
The Astor markhor (Capra falconeri falconeri) or flare-horned markhor is a markhor subspecies native to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
Ecology
The Astor markhor lives in the scrubland and open woodland that clothe the rugged slopes of the mountains among which it lives at altitudes of up to 3,600 m (11,800 ft). It seldom goes above the tree line; in summer it feeds largely on grasses and leaves but in winter it mainly browses on shrubs and woody material. One or two kids are born after a gestation period of 135 to 170 days. The goats are hunted by snow leopards, wolves and lynx, and the kids may fall prey to golden eagles.
Status
A 2024–25 survey by the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan in the five districts of Astore, Diamer, Gilgit, Skardu and Nagar counted 1,693 Astor markhors. The highest concentration was in Astore at 693 individuals, followed by Gilgit and Diamer with 433 each. In 2021, the count of Kashmir markhors at Chitral Gol National Park stood at 2,278. Surveys in 2019–21 survey estimated 7,579 individuals of Capra falconeri in northern Pakistan.
The 2011 estimate for the total population is around 5,800 individuals, divided into several sub-populations, with only one exceeding 1,000 individuals.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Astor markhor” as subspecies of mammal. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as subspecies of mammal. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2043037. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2024, 2021, 2019 and 2011.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Astor markhor” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.